Nokia - page 6

Two weeks ago Sunday, my iPhone 3GS slid from my pocket and nuzzled itself amongst the fossilized bubble gum, mottled receipts and other sticky detritus that lays thick between the seats of the 7:20pm MBTA train to Forest Hill on the Orange Line. Doubtless someone is playing with it even now. I didn’t even notice it go, but unlike the last time I lost my iPhone, my initial reaction was not panic or thundering rage, but a serene sense of acceptance: I just don’t need an iPhone anymore. I barely even tried to recover it. This is my new phone, and god help me, I love it.

Need a clue to how fast the world’s changing? Apple – which has been in the phone business less than five years – is about to sell more smartphones than Nokia for the first time ever. That’s the last laurel Nokia has left.

Now that ex-Microsoft business veep Stephen Elop has taken over the floundering handset giant Nokia and inked deals with his old employer to use their mobile operating system, you’d think he’d want his employees to start using Windows Phone 7 handsets… preferably Nokia ones.

Not so. He wants them using iPhones.

Like two sharks fighting over the carcass of a dying whale, Apple and Android want a piece of Nokia’s huge (but shrinking) market share. To do so, some suggest the tech giant needs to unveil an inexpensive handset…. the iPhone Nano.

The SyncMate 3 program from Eltima Software has been providing Android users with a way of seamlessly syncing their phones with their Mac for some time, but the latest update integrates support for Android powered tablets as well.

Microsoft’s recently-announced partnership with Nokia will significantly increase the chances of both Apple and Nokia settling their bitter patent infringement lawsuits against each other, says a long-time intellectual property activist who keeps a close eye on the patent strategies of the tech world’s largest firms.

I’m with Scoble on this one: the Nokia/Microsoft partnership is a pretty good idea. Here’s why:

1. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is actually pretty good. It’s certainly better than Nokia’s Symbian and arguably better than Android.
2. Microsoft gets massive hardware distribution, which will attract developers.
3. Apps: The platform will be too big to ignore. And apps are what count. You can’t just have cool devices or cool software, you’ve got to have a platform. This is why HP should also go with Windows Phone 7, instead of trying to get webOS off the ground (it’s great, but it’s doomed).

As Scoble says:

Nokia has great hardware design and supply chains. They always have great cameras, great screens. Supply chains matter. A lot more than anyone thinks (the stuff Apple never talks about, but works its ass off on is supply chain management — I got to see this first hand when I visited China).
You add that all up as a salad and now the smart developers have to take another look at Microsoft and Nokia. They can’t ignore them like they can RIM (we all know people won’t use a lot of cool apps on a Blackberry).

Scoble: Dear Nokia Fans: You’re Nuts!

With these words, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop declared his intentions for the future as part of his company’s strategic partnership with Microsoft. Both companies are trailing in Apple’s wake and urgently need to catch up.

The first part of Elop and Steve Ballmer’s open letter is somewhat dull, but the final paragraphs contain the real meat.

“Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems,” they declare. “Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.”

And then this declaration of war: “There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.”

I, for one, welcome our new Nokisoft overlords; and I’ll happily raise a glass to disruption. Let’s see what actual shipping products they come up with, shall we?

Apple’s patent battle with Nokia might not be going to plan for Cupertino’s lawyers: staff of the International Trade Commission have reportedly told the judge in the case that Apple’s patent allegations are “unfounded.”

The case is being heard for the first time before Judge Charles Bullock today, but as Bloomberg reports, the third-party of the ITC does not feel Apple’s patents have merit.

Are you wondering how a company like Nokia can, on the one hand, claim that it is selling more smartphones every day than the iPhone, and yet be kicking its CEOout the door like a mangy dog? These pie charts ought to make everything crystal clear.

Advisory firm Canaccord Genuity told investors to buy, buy, buy Apple stock on Tuesday, targeting Apple’s price at $356 per share… and to give investors an idea on why they were so excited about Apple’s prospects, they accompanied their note with the following observation: even though Apple only sold 17 million handsets in the first half of 2010, Apple has pulled in 39% of the mobile sector’s profit.

Meanwhile, Nokia, Samsung and LG sold 400 million phones last year — over twenty times as many handsets as Apple sold iPhones — and yet their profit was dwarfed by Apple’s in the same period.

As Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley notes, “[W]where most handset OEMs struggle to post a profit or even 10% operating margins… we estimate Apple boasts roughly 50% gross margin and 30%+ operating margin for its iPhone products.”

No wonder the boards of companies like Nokia are lopping off their key executives’ heads and bowling them out the door.

Yesterday at their annual Nokia World Conference, the beleaguered Finnish cell phone giant, introduced their latest answer to the iPhone, the Nokia E7, prominently boasting a high-quality new ClearBlack Display which they hope will impress users as much as the iPhone 4’s Retina Display. How does it measure up?

Quite well, actually. While the 4-inch, 640×360 ClearBlack Display doesn’t boast the iPhone 4’s pixel density, it does seem more vibrant in color and less cool in tone than the Retina, and a polarizing layer promises to give superior visibility outdoors. Since it is AMOLED, it would also consume significantly less power than the iPhone 4’s display, and theoretically faster response times and wider viewing angles as well. We’d still prefer the clarity of a Retina Display, but we’ve got to admit, we’re impressed.

Of course, Nokia’s ability to put together some decent hardware isn’t in doubt. Where they’ve been falling all over themselves in the last few years is in software, having yet to put together a credible challenger to Apple’s amazing success with iOS. Until they manage that, Nokia will continue to founder no matter how innovative the hardware of their phones.

A video blog entry by Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am shows just how much fun you can have in a recording studio with an iPhone at hand.

At about 1:40 seconds, the club-ready tune on youtube (or under “video blog” on his site) is catchy enough to have some fans wondering whether it’ll be part of his next album. It might not win over new converts to his Blackberry social network or much love at Nokia where he was a featured guest for the Remix party…